Originally posted 21-05-2009
Not a lot has gone on since my last post, but i wanted to put something else up to keep myself in the habit of documenting my progress etc.
I say not a lot has gone on, but actually it has. Glen has been chosen to go to Vancouver. A brilliant decision. It was weird because i was always confident he would go, but i was almost preparing myself for uproar if he didn't. i was worried EA might take the easy way out and choose someone who would just agree with everything, get caught up in the excitement of being there and come back and say "yeah its great, they sorted everything, buy it". Whereas i think we all know what to expect from Glen. So I am very very happy he is going. Good luck fella, you know what the community want and i know you will go fully armed with the questions that need answering.
I started by saying not much has gone on because i haven't played many games. certainly none that really stand out. I have only managed to play 5 games since i last posted which isnt many by my standards. I dont even know what has been stopping me play to be honest. I've been studying for exams at work but nothing over the top, i cant study past 9pm anyway, which is usually the time i go online. i have got few practise games in, im trying new tactics against the abusers online and a new formation.
Firstly the tactics:
I have found that when playing speed freaks and lobbed ball boobs, that frustrating them is a great tool. I have been using my new formation to help, but generally i have been REALLY slowing the game down, which they hate. taking them to 0-0 at 90 minutes feels like a win because i have stopped them scoring, and you can sense the frustration in their play, it becomes hurried and sloppy. I Just constantly soak the ball up, work attacks slowly, and pick holes. I used to try and counter, but i found many times that all my defensive hard work was undone because i tried to get forward too quickly, lost possesion, and left holes behind that they could exploite.
I have rarely been spanked by assited players online, in fact just the once by a severe margin, but a 3-0 could happen. since ditching the counter attacking mentality i have seen things really tighten up and now 1-0 either way is a much more realistic scoreline.
And the formation:
I used to play a fairly rigid 4-4-2. it was working for me and the only complaint i had was that sometimes if i got forward quickly by picking the ball up in their half, there was a serious lack of support from the middle. So i played around a bit and have recently been playing a 4-1-2-1-2. I like it. Fenerbahce have a decent CDM in Claudio Maldonado and a great CAM in Alex so rather than playing them alongside each other i have dropped Maldonado back to cover the defense and pick the ball up in midfield and pushed Alex up behind the strikers to add a third man to central attacks. Im slowly working out the strengths of the team, and im sure i will try something else in time, but for now its working well. I have yet to try it in a league game but i played two friendlies with Kappa the other day, both ended 1-0 with one win each.
Only have one league match still to play until the next fixtures go up. Against Udinese who have played 5 Won 1 Drawn 2 Lost 2. Could go either way. Other results have pushed me down to 5th in the league, still on 6 points in 5 games. I need to start turning some of these draws into wins.
Will post the result up here once its played, until then.
Adios